Apparatus, system, and method for high speed container filling

ABSTRACT

A high-speed container filling machine, utilizing absolute servo motor architecture, processes and delivers small items, such as pouch style desiccants, when provided on a continuous reel, or be switched over to dispense canister style desiccants provided loose in bulk. A proximity sensing device prevents the insertion of an empty, or partially filled, pouch desiccant.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/418,218, filed Nov. 6, 2016, which is hereby incorporated byreference as if submitted in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of container filling and moreparticularly, to an apparatus, system and method for the detection ofand high speed delivery of media into a container.

BACKGROUND

The use of desiccants in product packaging is well established andwidespread throughout a variety of industries. The most commonapplication is for moisture absorption and humidity control forsusceptible products, although other desiccant types are used to absorboxygen, for example. Desiccants appear in packaging containers for humaningestibles as well as, for example, consumer electronics. One of themost easily recognized uses in protecting ingestibles is in thepharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications, where a pouch or canisterstyle desiccant can be found amidst the tablets or vitamins in theirplastic containers, improving shelf life for the products whose efficacymight otherwise be compromised by exposure to moisture, or oxygen. Theneed for machines to dispense these desiccants in relatively high speedapplications is well established and currently being met by a variety ofmachine manufacturers. The need for increasing packaging line speeds,compounded by installing greater quantities of commonly sized desiccantsinto large containers, and also to handle a growing range of physicaldesiccant sizes that must be handled, have all added considerablecomplication and challenge to machine builders.

Current machines, including machine offerings by Omega Design, can meetline rates of up to 300 containers per minute (cpm) so long as no morethan a single small desiccant is being discharged into each passingcontainer. This then represents the current industrywide practical upperlimit on maximum possible container discharge rates. Pharmaceuticalmanufacturers however are, with ever increasing frequency, seeking tofurther extend product shelf life by inserting more desiccants into eachcontainer, and especially for samples containers which might linger in adoctor's office. Samples containers have very small quantities oftablets and so then often run at the highest line speeds since thetablet filling machines are no longer the line pacing machine.

Furthermore, in order to optimize materials purchases, they also thenseek to use their most commonly purchased bulk desiccant media, often asmall 1 or 2 gram desiccant, even when 4, 6 or even 8 grams of desiccantare required, and so then are often requesting multiple drops of thesesmaller desiccants into these containers and with minimal impact to linespeeds they simultaneously seek to increase. So the desire to be able todischarge up to 600 (or more) of these smaller desiccants per minute iscurrently compromised by the state-of-the-art limitations of dispensingmachines, and machine manufacturers have instead responded by mountingtwo (or more) of their current dispensing heads to a common frame, acostly and complex proposition.

It is of particular importance to industries producing ingestibles suchas foods or pharmaceuticals, where the moisture absorbing properties ofthe desiccant aid in arresting product degradation and so then extendinga product's useable sell-by period and also its shelf life. Within thepharmaceutical manufacturing world, product efficacy studies arecompleted as part of being granted approvals for a drug's manufacture,and inserting the requisite desiccant(s) into the container is, at leastfrom one perspective, considered nearly as important as inserting thetablets themselves. Woe be to the manufacturing line should a loosedesiccant be found on the floor underneath a conveyor or machine duringa line's operation. The entire line is stopped immediately and an entireday's worth of production may be torn apart, skid by skid, container bycontainer, until the container missing its desiccant has been found, sodire might be the consequences should it instead reach a pharmacist's,or a supermarket's, shelf. Given the capabilities of today's insertionmachines, it actually is not very often that a machine misses its targetand discharges a desiccant that winds up on the floor. But it ispossible, and so a desiccant ‘on the loose’ is a call to arms, and avery expensive call at that.

Less well known however is the possibility that a desiccant carrier(pouch or canister) may be empty of any desiccant media, the siliconsand for instance that usually fills them. No manufacturing process is100% defect free and on occasions there is produced an empty pouch orcanister which is then included along with the rest, and is practicablyundetectable until after the point of insertion. Most pouch machineswill simply cut the empty pouch from its continuous reel and insert itinto the waiting (or passing) container, optical sensors confirming byits passage that ‘something’ went into the container as expected,fulfilling the expectation then that it was a packet filled with media.

Efforts to detect this are today typically attempted using expensivecheckweigh machines. When these machines are not already included in theupfront design of a production line then there is a significantincremental cost to include one to imply to detect empty desiccantcarriers. Another alternate technology might be an x-ray machine, aneven more expensive proposition and with questionable effectivenessdepending on the number of pouches being inserted and their finalresting position in the bottom of the container. The very best way toavoid the problem altogether is not to insert an empty desiccant mediain the first place.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An apparatus, system and method in the field of bottle contents deliveryand more particularly, to an apparatus, system and method for the highspeed delivery of contents into a container, is disclosed. Aservo-controlled machine detects, within a certain number of degrees ofdrive-wheel rotation, that the tell-tale bulge of a filled pouch shouldarrive and cause the proximity sensor to separate a pouch from a reel tobe subsequently delivered to a container, based on user-programmedparameters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not by way oflimitation in the accompanying figure(s). The figure(s) may, alone or incombination, illustrate one or more embodiments of the disclosure.Elements illustrated in the figure(s) are not necessarily drawn toscale. Reference labels may be repeated among the figures to indicatecorresponding or analogous elements.

The detailed description makes reference to the accompanying figures inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a front-view of at least one embodiment of thedisclosed invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a close-up front view of at least one embodiment ofthe disclosed invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates another of at least one embodiment of the disclosedinvention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a stripped down view of at least one embodiment ofthe disclosed invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cut-out side view of the disclosed invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates another view of at least one embodiment of thedisclosed invention;

FIG. 7 is a workflow diagram of at least one embodiment of the disclosedinvention;

FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary pouch-style desiccants; and

FIG. 9 illustrates another workflow diagram of at least one additionalembodiment of the disclosed invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the presentinvention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevantfor a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating,for the purpose of clarity, many other elements found in typicaldocument processing systems and methods. Those of ordinary skill in theart may recognize that other elements and/or steps are desirable and/orrequired in implementing the present invention. However, because suchelements and steps are well known in the art, and because they do notfacilitate a better understanding of the present invention, a discussionof such elements and steps is not provided herein. The disclosure hereinis directed to all such variations and modifications to such elementsand methods known to those skilled in the art.

Embodiments are provided throughout so that this disclosure issufficiently thorough and fully conveys the scope of the disclosedembodiments to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specificdetails are set forth, such as examples of specific components, devices,and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Nevertheless, it will be apparent to those skilledin the art that certain specific disclosed details need not be employed,and that exemplary embodiments may be embodied in different forms. Assuch, the exemplary embodiments should not be construed to limit thescope of the disclosure. As referenced above, in some exemplaryembodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, andwell-known technologies may not be described in detail.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexemplary embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. Forexample, as used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may beintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,”and “having” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof. The steps, processes, and operations described herein are notto be construed as necessarily requiring their respective performance inthe particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specificallyidentified as a preferred or required order of performance. It is alsoto be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed,in place of or in conjunction with the disclosed aspects.

When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,”“connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may bedirectly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element orlayer, or intervening elements or layers may be present, unless clearlyindicated otherwise. In contrast, when an element is referred to asbeing “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or“directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be nointervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe therelationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion(e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directlyadjacent,” etc.). Further, as used herein the term “and/or” includes anyand all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Yet further, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be usedherein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/orsections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sectionsshould not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used todistinguish one element, component, region, layer or section fromanother element, component, region, layer or section. Terms such as“first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do notimply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus,a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed belowcould be termed a second element, component, region, layer, or sectionwithout departing from the teachings of the exemplary embodiments.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a machine may process smallitems, such as either pouch style desiccants, when provided on acontinuous reel, or be switched over to dispense canister styledesiccants provided loose in bulk. Such a machine is the first of itskind to process both styles of media using the absolute servo motorarchitecture being described.

Regardless, the desiccant type incoming desiccant media may be fed intothe machine from above. For example, a continuous reel of pouches mayflow through a purpose-built funnel sized to the desiccant (or otherbottle addition) and which guides the otherwise flexible desiccantstream into the drive mechanisms. For canisters, a purpose built dropchute may also be sized to the specific media to accomplishsubstantially the same effect. In each instance, the desiccants may beprocessed through the machine and into passing containers via motorizeddrive wheels.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the filling machine maymanage the infeed of the incoming desiccant supply and may alsodischarge individual desiccants. In an embodiment of the presentinvention, two independent but similar systems may accomplish this, eachemploying a pair of opposing drive wheels and each under the control oftheir own servo drive motor. For example, one wheel in each pair may befixed and the other may be spring-loaded so that it applies constantpressure to the desiccants in between.

For example, an upper pair of wheels may be responsible to manage theinfeed of pouch-type desiccants. In an embodiment of the presentinvention, a similar pair of opposing drive wheels may be positionedlower in the pouch desiccant travel path and may perform threefunctions. The first may coordinate with the upper pair tosimultaneously grip and control the pouch stream. The second maycoordinate with the upper pair of wheels to optimize the cutting of asingle pouch from the reel, and the third may then discharge the severedpouch into a container.

As further illustrated in diagram 100 of FIG. 1, when canisterdesiccants are used, the upper wheels may be unused. The lower drivewheels used for pouch desiccants 102 may be driven by shafts of extendedlength. For canister dispensing, an additional set of outer drive wheelsmay be added, outboard of the pouch wheels, on these extensions. Onlythese lower wheels 110 may be used to discharge the canisters which arefed by other equipment a drop chute and then rely on gravity to feedthem into the discharge wheels.

As previously described, the machine may incorporate two pairs ofopposing drive wheels, arranged in a top-and-bottom architecture. Eitherpair may be driven by its own servo motor and within each pair theopposing wheels may be mechanically geared together so that the left andright wheels turn clockwise and counter-clockwise respectively (or viceversa), and in unison. The separate servo motors may allow each pair tobe driven independently of the other and/or to also be actuated inresponse to, in unison with, or according to any mathematical algorithmthat would relate and coordinate their movements, allowing the separatepairs to behave as if they were mechanically linked one moment, or tootherwise operate with complete independence when warranted, all undercontrol of a PLC and embedded subroutines. This is critical to beingable to optimize the machine's performance for each and every desiccantstype and size it may be asked to process.

The upper pair of drive wheels 108 may be used to pull a continuousstream of connected pouches from a supply reel and deliver them into themachine upon demand. A purpose designed funnel 104 may be used topre-orient, position and control the incoming stream so that they may berepeatability presented with some precision to the receiving drivewheels. For example, most manufacturers of the reeled pouch desiccantsthemselves follows a practice by which each pair of pouches areconnected by a web that incorporates some specific physical featurewhich can then be detected by a variety of sensing strategies. Sometimesthe feature is a hole cut into the web; other times it is a semi-opaqueopening; other times it may be side notches.

Various sensors may then be commonly employed with which to detect theseconnecting webs. An advantage of the present invention, becausesubstantially all managed motion is servo controlled, is that sensorsmay be then be told specifically ‘when’ to look for the feature (orrather, the machine's PLC may be programmed to know when to ‘listen’ toa sensor report). Otherwise sensors are in a perpetual state ofalertness, constantly sensing and reporting, and this can addunnecessary data processing events that consume (and so expand) thePLC's processing time, which can reduce machine throughput.

A move to ‘advance the next pouch’ may be initiated when the lowestpouch has been cut by pouch cutter 106 from the rest of its companionson the incoming stream.

Cutting the Pouch

In an embodiment of the present invention, and as illustrated by diagram200 of FIG. 2, upper and lower drive wheel pairs 108 and 110 may beseparated by a distance sufficient to fit a cutting blade 106 and anvil202 between them. In an embodiment of the present invention, both thecutting blade and anvil may be connected through a common mechanicallinkage and made to move by a simple pneumatic cylinder. Pneumaticcylinders are perfectly fine automation devices when speeds are slow andtime is available both for the chain of usual events that manage thedelivery of compressed air and also then to tolerate the inevitablevariability in timing of the actual event. However, the higher speedrequirements of the present invention warrant much finer and precisetiming of events, as well as its absolute speed, and so too is theactuation of the cutting blade itself also driven by its own servomotor. The rotary motion of its servo motor may be converted into ahorizontal and perfectly linear motion of the blade, which glides alongits own precision linear rail, along a fixed range of travel which hasbeen dimensioned so as to penetrate into the anvil by a specific amount,as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Coordinated and Independent Movement

The upper drive wheels may advance the pouch stream into the lowerwheels, which themselves may have been simultaneously actuated todischarge a previously cut pouch. The reel may be eventually capturedand held in the grip of both pairs of wheels. Recall that everydesiccant on a reel may be of the same length and may employ the samefeature in their connecting webs, and that it is furthermore anembodiment of the present invention to cut the pouches as closely as ispossible to the exact center of this connecting web.

Once the connecting web feature has been detected, a program associatedwith the present invention may know with substantial and/or exactprecision how much additional distance the reel must be advanced inorder to bring the web feature in line with the cutting system. Theservo motors, via their own built in position encoders, may simplyactuate the pre-programmed number of rotational degrees which itsprogram knows correspond to the required advance distance. In anembodiment of the present invention, the servo motor control may allowthe cutting action to be initiated at a time when the pouches are stillbeing advanced by the drive wheels, giving the cutter a ‘head start’. Incontrast, one would usually bring the reel to a stopped position beforeactuating a pneumatic cylinder, adding precious time to the processcycle and slowing throughput. The speed and timing of the wheels andcutter motions may be controlled and ‘electronically geared’ togetherthrough position-relating algorithms, and so assure the simultaneousarrival of the blade with the arrival of the target web, wasting no timeand so assuring maximum possible throughput.

At the conclusion of the blade's extend stroke, the pouch may have beencut. If advantageous, the lower drive wheels may be commanded to begindischarging the cut pouch at the same moment the cutter blade begins itsretraction move, giving the discharge move its own head start, even ifonly a few milliseconds. The upper drive wheels 108 may then becommanded to advance the reel stream downward precisely when the cutteredge has ‘cleared the lane’, thus giving both motions their bestadvantage of being started at the earliest possible time. The lowerwheels 110 may be commanded to discharge the cut pouch at whatever speedmight be necessary to assure insertion into the passing container below,and if necessary to then decelerate and match the speed of the incomingpouch being advanced it into its space by upper drive wheels rotating ata potentially different speed.

One final ‘move’ further optimizes the cutter's performance. Asdiscussed, once captured in both sets of drive wheels, the pouch streamis advanced so that the web may be precisely aligned on center with thecutter blade. At that instant, in an embodiment of the presentinvention, the lower drive wheel motor may be commanded to apply acertain torque to at least one of the drive wheels, sufficient to createtension in the pouch-web but without actually trying to move the pouchto some altered position. Tension may promote a more exact, and faster,cutting action. In this way, servo motors may function according toposition, velocity or torque, with each control mode invoked asnecessary to optimize performance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, at least about the momentwhen the cutting is completed the upper infeed pouch stream remainscaptured within the upper drive wheels and the recently cut pouch isstill captured in the lower discharge wheels. Owing to servo motioncontrol, the exact physical locations of each may be known, enabled inno small part because the ‘mean’ length of each pouch on the reel isalso known, which factors into the oncoming moves. As discussedhereinabove, ‘advancing the pouch’ may be done coincident with the lowerdrive wheels to also ‘dispense the pouch’ just previously cut, and in sodoing cause it to be inserted into the awaiting container beneath. Thissimultaneously ‘clears the lane’ so that the lower drive wheels may thenaccept the next arriving, lower pouch. The independence of actuationallowed by the machine's architecture permits each move to be optimizedindependent of the other, even though they must occur together, as willbe discussed in more detail below.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the moves are initiated,both sets of drive wheels are set into whatever motions have beenprogrammed for them, and the pouches begin their movements. The logic ofthe present invention may initiate the lower drive wheels motionslightly earlier than the upper wheels and in fact accelerated to aspeed greater than that which the upper wheels will then feed in thenext uncut pouch, in order to create separation and so preclude anyoverlap. Because of the exacting nature of position control for allpouches, the lower drive wheels need only be activated for a certaindegrees of rotation at their higher speed in order to move whateverlength of pouch was left extending above it (that is, in the voidbetween the wheel pairs) after the cutting has completed. Once thisexact length of pouch has been ‘processed’ by the lower wheels, itsspeed can be reduced to then match the upper wheels so that the incomingpouch will be captured by the lower wheels just a few milliseconds afterthey have discharged the previous cut pouch.

At least one millisecond later, and actually known to the machine interms of length of pouch processed (i.e., degrees of wheel rotation),the web feature may be expected to be approaching the sensor positionand so the sensor may then monitor. In an embodiment of the presentinvention, when the sensor detects the web feature, the two sets ofdrive wheels may act in unison to advance the connected pouches througha specific additional degrees of rotation so that the center of the webfeature is then exactly aligned with the cutter blade. Furthermore, atthe end of that move, the lower drive wheels may then be over-torqued bythe slightest amount relative to the stationary upper wheels, to placethe connected pair of captured pouches under tension. Once in position,a separate servo actuated cutter then separates them. In an embodimentof the present invention, the employing of servo motion control in alldynamic elements of the machine's operation, and the ‘electronicallygearing’ the three servo motors' motions, may allow events like cuttingthe pouches apart to be coordinated while supporting events are still inmotion or, are just completing their motions, and so the necessity ofbringing motions to a full stop, and in so doing slow throughput, areminimized or eliminated.

Verification of Insertion

A critical requirement of pharmaceutical manufacturers in particular isthe need to verify that a desiccant has in fact been dispensed into acontainer. The only way to effect this with 100% certainty is toafter-the-fact visually inspect every container for the presence ofdesiccant(s), which in addition to being very expensive as speedsincrease grows more problematic when multiple desiccants must beinspected for. Expensive X-Ray technologies have been employed in lieuof human or camera inspection but the multiple desiccant scenariochallenges even these technologies, and financial justification forthese expensive systems anyway eludes all but the biggest pharmaceuticalcompanies. So alternate strategies are usually employed that can belikened to ‘circumstantial evidence’ in proving desiccant insertion or,put in simpler terms, the‘now-you-see-me-now-you-don't-so-I-must-be-in-the-container’ approach.

The use of servo motion control of the present invention may raise thelevel of certainty of this style of verification to nearly theequivalent of 100% visual inspection for a single desiccant insertion,and may exceed the efficacy of vision inspection or x-ray technology formultiple desiccant drops into a single container, where those othertechnologies often prove incapable of distinguishing the true number ofdesiccants.

In an embodiment of the present invention, improvement in insertionverification for the pouch application may be accomplished by: a)fitting the machine with a purpose designed discharge funnel andsurrounding sensors, and/or b) combining the knowledge of a pouch'sposition based on servo motor encoder feedback, and its speed ofdischarge, to enhance the logic supporting the verification conclusion.While still considered a ‘circumstantial’ inspection strategy, it issuperior to prior art, and especially for a multiple drop scenario.

A purpose designed discharge chute 204 may be fitted below the pouchdischarge wheels. It may be sized to the length of the pouch beinginserted, which may vary significantly based on the weight of desiccantper pouch (from ½ gram to 6 are common in pharma applications). Thesingle sensor used is illustrated in each of three typical positions itmight occupy, upper, mid, and lower positions.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a sensor may be used todetect both the arrival of a severed pouch's leading edge (because thesevered pouch blocks the sensor while it passes by) and quicklythereafter the presence of its trailing edge when the sensor is nolonger blocked. A second sensor may be mounted on an adjustable arm thatmay be used to confirm the presence of a container during the pouchinsertion. All of these components may be first fitted and the machineheight then adjusted so that the top edge of passing containers verynearly brushes the lower edge of this discharge chute, so that virtuallyno physical escape point exists through which a pouch might errantlyescape. The ‘circumstantial’ verification method in use then, in itssimplest implementation, combines the ‘now you see it, now you don't’logic with the certainty of a container present sensor, and theelimination of alternate escape routes, to conclude that the dispenseddesiccant observed had nowhere else to go but into the container via thedischarge funnel.

The unique use of servos to control movement of the desiccant media inthis invention provides another way to further augment the certainty ofthe circumstantial conclusion and preclude other sorts of insertionfailures. The cut pouch may be physically captive within the lower drivewheels during the discharge (insertion) move. It is well accepted thatthe mean length of all pouches in a reel is tightly controlled by thedesiccant manufacturer, and enjoys very little variability. Thevariability in finish cut length of any particular desiccant is purely afunction of the machine which could introduce additional variability inthat length. The use of high-speed processing and servo motors tocontrol motion minimizes this to its lowest practical level in thisapplication, because each pouch is placed in an exact position forcutting, and that after cutting, its true position, and length, is alsoknown.

Since the length and position of the cut pouch is known with heretoforeunparalleled precision, the confirmation sensor knows when it should belooking for both the leading and trailing edges as the pouch is beingdischarged, and so the sensor may be monitored only during a narrowwindow of time to assure that it ‘sees’ the trailing edge pass when itshould see it. In this sense the verification logic of the presentinvention cannot be fooled by two unrelated motions simply because theyoccurred in the expected sequence. If for any reason the event does nothappen when expected, the machine will fault and shut down until thecause can be understood and remediated. Thus, the risk of a containerescaping without its requisite number of desiccants, a grievous ‘shutdown the line’ event in the pharmaceutical world, is enhanced beyondcurrent technology.

Canister Dispensing

As illustrated in diagram 300 of FIG. 3, pouch media may be pulledthrough the machine by the upper drive wheels, the canister desiccantsmay rely primarily on gravity to feed them into the machine fordispensing. When the upper drive wheels are not used, nor is the infeedpouch funnel. Only the lower drive wheels' servo motor is used toprovide the motive force which, as was mentioned earlier, reduces wearand tear over prior designs.

As mentioned, additional mechanisms may be attached to the machine sothat its basic architecture may now be used to feed this distinctlydifferent desiccant media. There are two primary mechanisms that make itpossible for this machine to also handle these canisters: the drop chuteand sensors assembly, and the drive wheel extensions 302.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the canister drive wheels arefirst fitted to the existing pair of lower drive shafts. Each of theseshafts are purpose designed to extend longer than are needed by thepouch drive wheels, and so allow the addition of this second set ofdrive wheels with only minimal effort and tooling. The original drivewheels used to dispense pouches remain in their usual place, and thesenew drive wheels, purpose designed for specific canister diameters, arefitted in front of them on the same shafts.

Although the pouch drive wheels may also physically move the canistersas well. In an embodiment of the present invention, The physicalarrangement for these components places the drop chute 308 and(additional) drive wheels outboard of the pouch travel path, so thatwhen the machine is set up for canister insertion, the upper drivewheels and servo section are by-passed, saving wear and tear on thatportion of the system. To emphasize then, the travel path of canisterdesiccants is not the same travel path as is used for the pouches.

The drop chute 308 may be typically fabricated from stainless steeltubing, selected so that its ID will both control, and yet allow freepassage of, a specific canister diameter and length, even all around anynecessary arc radius which the tube design must include. The chute hasreliefs machined within its sidewalls that allow the drive wheels toextend far enough into the cylindrical space through which the canisterstravel to allow the pair of outboard drive wheels to control them. Thelength of the drop chute is designed such that a portion of it mayalways extend below the lower discharge wheels, no matter the length ofthe desiccant, and that it also includes two sensors.

The sensors in this lower section may be positioned to detect thepresence or absence of a canister and/or the momentary gap created whenone is discharged. A third sensor positioned much higher on the samedrop chute may be used to trigger secondary feeding mechanisms todeliver more desiccants to the drop chute. For the purposes of thefollowing descriptions, this upper most sensor high up on the drop chutewill be referred to as sensor1. In descending order then, the twosensors positioned on the lower part of the drop chute 308 beneath thedischarge wheels will be referred to as sensor2 (304) and sensor3 (308)respectively.

The Canister Advance Move and Verification

As one canister is discharged another falls into the outboard lowerdrive wheels from the upper stack. Because the machine must always knowit processed the correct quantity of canisters required, servo motioncontrol is combined with the bottom two sensors to, like the pouches,provide verification. The use of servo motors provide yet anotheradvantage for canister insertion that lesser motors cannot.

At the initiation of a dispense move sensor2 is partially blocked by awaiting canister held captive by the spring pressure of the outboardlower drive wheel pair. The presence of a waiting canister is anecessary element to even beginning the discharge move; the machine ofthe present invention may fault out if the sensor cannot detect anavailable canister. By programming in a high acceleration ramp for thestart of the canister discharge move, the canister can be made toseparate from the other canisters stacked above it in the drop chutefaster than they will naturally fall under just gravity, creating amomentary and detectable separation. So again, the sensor knows thatafter a certain degrees of wheel rotation (corresponding to the ‘free’length of the canister extending above the drive wheel tangent point) itshould expect to see its trailing edge, confirming that the canister hasbeen successfully moved, ‘on schedule’, and was not somehow jammed upfrom moving downward.

The discharging canister has now just been sent downward towards itsawaiting container, traveling at a speed slightly faster than it couldby then have achieved just under the force of gravity, although it isnow under the motive force of gravity alone. Sensor3 is positioned nearthe bottom most edge of the drop chute and is now waiting for thepassage of the oncoming desiccant. Like the pouches, the machine willhave been adjusted so that the gap between the lowest edge of the dropchute and the upper edge of the passing containers is as close aspossible, leaving no escape path through which the desiccant can travelother than into the container. And, as before, the aforementionedcontainer-present sensor is also still employed to verify the presenceof a waiting container. Sensor3 will thus expect to find itself blockedwhen the canister's leading edge arrives and then suddenly unblocked asits trailing edge passes, and all according to a tight and programmabletime window, providing the enhanced measure of verification confidenceas was done with the pouches. Were a misplaced or jammed container toblock the canister from dropping for example, the stalled canister,still then blocking sensor3 when it wasn't expected to be, then faultsthe machine.

Because the exact length of the canisters is known, and furthermore theexact length of the ‘free’ canister body above the drive wheels' tangentpoint, so too do we know the exact number of degrees with which torotate the drive wheels in order to expel the canister. Once thosedegrees of rotation are complete the desiccant is free and the wheelsare then decelerated in anticipation of the next desiccant arriving.That canister has begun falling under the influence of gravityimmediately when the one below it was pulled away, but because of thefashion in which the lowest canister has been accelerated for discharge,a ‘gap’ is created between them. Sensor2 had been blocked by the lowercanister until its trailing edge passed whereupon it became unblocked.When sensor2 is blocked once again the machine knows that the nextcanister has arrived, and will then index a precise amount to stage thatcanister so that a precise length of the canister may be staged belowthe drive wheels and also a precise amount above. And so the processrepeats, and at speeds (so far) that have exceeded 600 canisters/minute.

The present invention incorporates design advantages heretofore notexploited in the prior art of processing both canister and pouch media,and possibly no other single-desiccant machines, apparatus, or methods.Improvements over these machines that have enabled a more than doublingof desiccant throughput include: use of servo motors to effect allmanaged machine motions; changing to a top to bottom drive motorarchitecture instead of either a single motor or dual side-to-side motorarchitecture; use of media specific funnels and drop chutes to assist inmanaging desiccant flow; fixing one side of the machine from moving;elimination of large and heavy drive belt assemblies, substitutinginstead pairs of lower mass drive wheels; converting from apneumatically actuated cutter blade to a servo-controlled cutter; fixingthe cut anvil and moving only a lighter cutter blade; and use ofoutboard drive wheel for second media type.

Prior art machines employ a variety of motor types and pneumaticactuation, most chosen to reduce costs in the lower speed applications.Substantially ail motions in the present invention (with the exceptionof gravity drop of canisters) are effected through servo motors. Eachmotor may be commanded to perform its own motions independently of otheractions, in conjunction with other actions, or electronically linked toother servo actions to simulate a mechanically linked architecture, butwithout the moving mass and wear and tear of actual mechanisms likelevers, gears, belts and bearings.

So for example, instead of the mechanical limitations of the earlierfixed belt ratio system connecting the infeed and discharge moves, thetwo motions are now free to be optimized for each pouch length, and sothen allow complete independence of motion, or a coordinated motion, orboth.

In an embodiment of the present invention, (which at the time was forpouch handling only) a single motor actuated a pair of opposing belts,which in turn were then geared to their own lower discharge wheelsthrough a belt and pulley system. That motor proved incapable ofaccelerating the combined moving mass of that design with sufficientspeed and so a follow-on improvement was to give each side its ownmotor.

So in both designs a pair of opposing drive belts pulled pouches from areel through the machine using motor(s) which could either be an AC, DC,stepper or servo motor. Each belt assembly was then mechanicallyconnected to its own lower discharge wheel, and a subsequent improvementin the twin motor iteration was to overdrive the lower wheels so thatcut pouches would be discharged faster than incoming pouches were beingprovided. The ratio however was fixed regardless of the size (length) ofthe individual pouches, which forced compromises at the dimensionalextremes and resulted in less efficient/effective delivery and lessspeed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the belts may be replaced byan upper pair of opposing drive wheels operating through their own servomotor to pull in pouches from a reel. There is much less mass to acceland decel here promoting faster operating speeds, as well as lower partcount and reduced cost. A separate lower pair of opposing dischargedrive wheels cooperates on managing the flow and position of thecontinuous stream of incoming pouches and ultimately also thendischarges the cut pouches, and is controlled independently by its ownmotor.

High-speed automation is highly correlated with the extent to which theproduct is physically controlled during high speed motions. Reels ofpouches have practically no predictability in how they might move underforce. The purpose designed funnels provide a length of incomingdesiccant product that is controlled from unwanted movements so thatdynamic perturbations that might otherwise create unwanted tugging oreven ‘knot tying’ motions are virtually eliminated, at least at the‘business end’ where the pouches are being guided into the drive wheels.Some machines have only perfunctory guides that fail to control thewhipping motions of high speed pouch reel feeding, which also thenforced the machines into lower operating speeds.

The canisters too now enjoy a drop chute design whose geometry is madeintegral with the wheels themselves, which also then promotes a stableflow of desiccants controlled from unwanted motions that compromisespeed. In an embodiment of the present invention, each side of the twobelt sides were free to articulate in response to the passing stream ofpouches. In an embodiment of the present invention, only one side moves,reducing the dynamic mass which must be accelerated left and right.

In an embodiment of the present invention, elimination of large andheavy drive belt assemblies, substituting instead pairs of lower massdrive wheels may be used. This may greatly reduce the mass of componentswhich need to be accelerated and is a critical design element in the newinvention that maximizes possible throughput. Lower mass means bothfaster acceleration and faster sustained drive speeds, as less energy isexpended overcoming the higher mass' inertia.

In an embodiment of the present invention, converting from apneumatically actuated cutter blade to a servo-controlled cutter may beemployed. In slower speed applications the variability in pneumaticactuations may be tolerable. As speeds increase the PLC signal toretract a cylinder might actually be sent before the initial extendmotion has even been completed, and at the extreme speeds now beingachieved the extend motion may not even have begun before the competingretract signal is sent. With servo-motion control these limitations arenot only eliminated but can be coordinated with the other servo motionsto time their occurrence as though mechanically linked. Speeds arelimited only by the power and response time of the motors, and factoredinto whatever is the mass of the target being moved. The use of a servoto effect the motion provides for precise control of accel, deccel,position and velocity all of which can be optimized for maximumthroughput, and regardless of desiccant length, through desiccantspecific program recipes.

In an embodiment of the present invention, fixing the cut anvil andmoving only a lighter cutter blade may be employed. Both the cuttingblade and the cutting anvil may be made to advance together and convergeon a common location, effected through a pneumatic cylinder thatactuated both components through their mechanical linkages. In anembodiment of the present invention, the anvil may remain fixed and onlythe smaller cutter assembly is made to move on its own linear rail underservo rotary actuation. The reduction in mass being moved greatlyenables reaching higher throughput speeds and is a key component inreaching higher speeds.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the use of an outboard drivewheel for a second media type may be used. This may provide significantadvantages when processing canister desiccants. In some apparatuses(which also had been modified to handle both desiccant formats) each ofthe side-to-side motors had to continue to actuate the entire movingmass of their entire drive belt assemblies in order to engage the lowerwheels for the desiccant insertion. In the new machine, only the lowerwheels need to be actuated, which means less inertia must be controlledfor accel and decal greatly increasing machine speeds and also reducesoverall wear and tear on the machine which naturally improves itsreliability and other metrics like MTBF, MTTR and MCTR.

FIG. 4 illustrates diagram 400 which is an alternate embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary cut-out side view diagram 500 of themachine disclosed herein. Diagram 500 shows a plain ball bearing 502which may be pressed flush with plate 504 and gear mounting plate 506.Additionally, the machine may include rear plate 508, as shown, alongwith additional bearing pressed to be flush with plate at point 510.Diagram 500 further illustrates exemplary flex coupling 512 affixed tomid shaft 514. Diagram 500 further includes upper slide bearing assembly516 and lower slide bearing assembly 520. An exemplary sensor 518 asdescribed herein and above is shown. It is understood that the partshighlighted in diagram 500 are not meant to be limiting nor exhaustive,but merely shown to provide clarification to aid in understanding of thedisclosed invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates diagram 600 which yet another alternate embodiment ofthe present invention. In accordance with above, the machine of FIG. 6includes a gravity-fed drop chute 602. In the event of canisterdesiccants, canister desiccants may rely primarily on gravity to feedthem into the machine for dispensing via drop chute 602.

FIG. 7 shows simplified workflow diagram 700 of the disclosed inventionaccomplished by the machine described herein. Initially, media, such asa pouch desiccant, is fed into the machine as described above off of aroll of pouches at step 702. At step 704, a pouch separation point maybe detected by one or more sensors as described above with respect toFIG. 3. Based on a detected separation point, the roll of pouches mayadvance a certain distance and step 706 may be performed to divide themedia from the roll, such as by a cutting action via a blade asdescribed with respect to FIG. 2. At step 708, the media may then bedelivered appropriately based on predefined requirements (e.g., 1 or 2desiccants per bottle). In an alternate embodiment, such as in theembodiment where desiccant canisters are delivered, steps 704 and 706would not be required by the invention.

An alternate embodiment of the disclosed machine substitutes highlysensitive proximity sensors in place of conventional optical sensors toprovide for physical, rather than optical, detection of pouch desiccantfeatures, all made possible by the design of the machine itself.

Pouch desiccants used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals are commonlyprovided as a long continuous stream wound on a reel, each desiccantconnected to neighboring desiccants by a thin web of material. Betweenthese webs are the individual pouches containing the desiccant media(such as silica sand), creating a bulging shape not unlike a smallteabag. The stream of desiccants is fed into an insertion machine anddesiccants are individually detected, cut from the reel, and theninserted into a passing container. For many years the manufacturers ofthese desiccant reels provided physical features within the individualwebs, small notches cut on either side, or more commonly, a through holein their center, which the machine manufacturers sensed optically,typically using through-beam sensors, that then signaled the arrival ofthe ‘next’ desiccant and so then trigger other actions like cutting anddispensing of the severed pouches.

Very recently, the desiccant manufacturers have been altering theirmanufacturing processes and sometimes these physical features havedisappeared entirely, and other times semi-opaque ‘windows’ have beensubstituted where the holes used to be. Their expectation, it seems, wasthat machine manufacturers would figure out how to rearrange an array ofoptical sensors in some fashion, perhaps now looking at the edge of thepassing desiccants, and trying to differentiate the thin web from thepacket bulge. This has created a not insignificant challenge for machinemanufacturers relying on optical sensing strategies alone, as tuning asingle sensor, or even an array of sensors, to somehow overcome theinherent variability in pouch bulge thickness has proven more difficultthan expected. FIG. 8 illustrates different desiccant pouch styles,including pouches with no physical features, pouches with semi-opaquethrough holes, and pouches with physical through holes. These styles aremerely exemplary and are not meant to be limiting.

Referring to FIG. 9, a workflow diagram 900 is shown illustrating theprocess of pouch delivery. In step 902, parameters may be set via atouchscreen interface or the like to program the machine prior todesiccant delivery. Parameters set may include, but certainly notlimited to, pouch type and thickness, delivery speed, container type andsize, etc.

The design of pouch insertion mechanism provided herein implements theplatform on which to substitute a different kind of technology that hasproven successful and obviates the need for any sorts of optical sensorsaltogether. In the process, it also created a means of identifying aproblem every bit as important as a container of tablets missing adesiccant entirely, that is; a container into which was inserted adesiccant that was empty of any of its moisture absorbing media.

As previously described, the machine, at step 904, moves pouches throughthe machine and into containers by trapping them between opposing pairsof servo-controlled drive rollers. There are upper and lower sets ofthese rollers. The upper set feeds the reel of pouches into the machineand ultimately positions the bottom-most pouch to be cut from itsneighbor. Once cut from the reel the bottom set, acting independently ofthe upper pair, discharges the cut desiccant into the target container.

In each pair of these rollers one of the rollers is fixed in positionbut its mate is attached to a carriage that slides on a precision guiderail, and is kept pressed against its companion roller by springpressure. The spring and moveable carriage allow the bulge of thedesiccant pouch to separate the two wheels whilst they rotate and movethe desiccant down through the machine, the wheel moving whateverdistance any individual pouch requires for its clear passage. At thislocation, two halves of a highly sensitive proximity sensor areinstalled here; one side to the axis of the fixed roller the other sideto the axis of the moving roller. At machine set-up, the machine's ‘zeroposition’ is calibrated against a section of thin web. Thereafter, asthe wheels rotate to advance a pouch, the thicker part of the bulgeforces the drive wheels to separate. When the wheels have just barelybecome separated by approximately 0.020″ (0.5 mm), for example, thesensor is ‘made’ and a signal then sent to the machine controlleridentifying that position as the ‘start’ of the next pouch cycle. Sinceeach pouch is approximately identical in length on the reel, the machineknows exactly what distance (translated into degrees of wheel rotation)to move the pouch so that the trailing web is aligned in front of thecutter blade, as described previously.

Using distance technology the machine, or machines, will detect, at step906, when a thin, separating web has been detected. In normal operationthis then signals the movement of pouches the distance needed to advanceit to the cutting position and thereafter to advance then to the nextpouch.

Additionally, the machine detects within a certain number of degrees ofdrive-wheel rotation that the tell-tale bulge of a filled pouch shouldarrive and cause the proximity sensor to separate, step 908. And so, ona pouch by pouch basis, it can also confirm that a pouch having mediacontent is passing or rather, when one should be passing, step 912.Consequently, it will also detect when there is no, or too little,separation of the drive rollers as a pouch is passing by, which themachine interprets as an empty, or partially filled pouch. In thatcircumstance it can cause the machine to fault out and stop at step 910,or it could simply advance an additional full desiccant to be insertedinto the container.

Optical sensors oriented in their usual forward-facing arrangement (to‘see’ the notches or the hole in a web) cannot reliably detect an emptypouch and so downstream check-weighing machines (or X-ray machines)might need to be installed to identify and reject a container thatreceived one. In larger containers having many tablets, possibly manypouches, and therefore considerable weight, the checkweigher may proveinsensitive enough to detect the very small discrepancy in weight thatwould occur if say, one of four desiccants was empty. The machine of thedisclosed invention prevents the insertion of an empty or insufficientlyfilled pouch. The machine may be programmed with variance limits basedon expected pouch thicknesses that will alert users to a partiallyfilled pouch, with ‘tolerance levels’ that can be set by the machineuser.

Variance limits may be pre-programmed based on different desiccant pouchstyles. Expected pouch thicknesses may be associated with certain brandsand models of known desiccants. New pouch styles may be programmed intothe machine, as required.

Those of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many modificationsand variations of the present invention may be implemented withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it isintended that the present invention covers the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A system for conducting high-speed container filling, thesystem comprising: a continuous supply reel of one or more pouch-styledesiccants; a purpose-built funnel configured to receive the reel of oneor more pouch-style desiccants; a driving mechanism attached to thepurpose-built funnel, the driving mechanism comprising: at least twopairs of opposing drive wheels; one or more sensors; and at least onecutting mechanism; the driving mechanism configured to: advance, by theopposing drive wheels, the reel of one or more pouch-style desiccants;detect, by the opposing drive wheels, an incoming pouch; cut, at apredetermined position, the incoming pouch from the reel; and dischargethe incoming pouch.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the purpose-builtfunnel is further configured to orient, position, and control thereceived one or more pouch-style desiccants.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein at least one pair of the at least two pairs of opposing drivewheels are fixed and the other pair of drive wheels are spring-loaded.4. The system of claim 3, wherein the spring-loaded drive wheels applyconstant pressure on the passing reel of one or more pouch-styledesiccants.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the driving mechanismcauses a fault in response to detecting, by the opposing drive wheels,the incoming pouch having insufficient thickness.